Sometimes it Takes a Phonecall…

So this past week, I had my first emergency call at work.

A prospective patient called the office because she was interested in getting her bipolar diagnosis reevaluated by one of our doctors because she was not clicking with her current one. I took down her information and began the process of scheduling an appointment with her. Moments later, her daughter called our office informing me that her mother began self-harming while at work. The daughter asked if she could schedule a same day appointment for her mother to see a psychologist or psychiatrist in our office. Legally and professionally, I had to inform her that it was in her mothers best interest that she be immediately checked into an emergency room or psychiatric hospital.

A therapist can do nothing for a client who is in such a state until he or she is stabilized, especially if this prospective patient has yet to has a session with the new doctor. As very intense and worrisome as this situation was, I was proud of myself for staying level headed and persuasive, as at first her mother did not want to voluntarily check herself into a facility. The situation made me realize and reinforce several things:

1. Therapy is more than listening to someone’s problems and collecting their money; Real, fragile people are on the phone with us or coming into the office every day who truly are ill and in need of the upmost attention and care.

2. Though therapy is treated as a luxury, it is indeed a necessity.

3. You never know what the person on the other end of the phone is going through, therefore it is important that all patients and prospective patients be treated as hospitably and taken as seriously as possible.

4. If you or someone you love needs help, all it takes isn’t a phone call. Always ask for help.

Even though it was frightening and stressful, I am excited to continue pursuing a career in clinical psychology because I want to help make people well.

Let’s see what this week brings!